


You Need To Listen To The Voices In My Head

by Salomonderiel



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: AI AU, Action, Drama, Humour
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-03
Updated: 2014-09-27
Packaged: 2018-02-16 01:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2251377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salomonderiel/pseuds/Salomonderiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Geoff's always worked as part of a team. It's just that now, the team consists of a lot of voices inside his head. Which is a good job, because he's starting to not trust anyone outside of it...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Not the first time shit hit the fan, might be the last

**Author's Note:**

> I am really not quite sure where I'm going with this. I got bored and this happened. It's too awesome an AU to not write anything for it, so. I think I have an idea of where this is going. SHOULDN'T be as long as some fics I've written... 
> 
> Based, evidently, on the epic AI AU by raynrvaez.tumblr
> 
> Check it out.

“Five minutes until deployment, Alabama.”

Geoff just groaned. “Can’t you, just circle round a bit? Take the scenic route? I wasn’t finished napping back here.”

“No can do, soldier.”

“Lindsay, _please?_ ”

A chuckled came from the pilot’s cockpit. “Don’t try that shit on me, Alabama. Always remember – I’m more scared of him than I am of you.”

Geoff groaned again, but wearily swiped his helmet off the seat beside him. “Okay, well, at least _try_ to fly slightly smoother.”

“Oh I’m sorry, is my dodging of debris inconvenient for you?” Lindsay snarked back. A quiet, electronic male chuckle followed her words. “Don’t diss my epic skills, Alabama, or you’ll find yourself dropping from a lot further from the target than you’d planned.”

Well, that was just rude. “Michael, stop laughing at me and get out of the goddamn aircraft,” Geoff ordered, clicking his helmet back into place. The dull interior of the aircraft slowly, one by one, lit up with a mirage of colours, momentarily blocking his view at all before they slowly settled back into a pattern so familiar to him that to see without it was unnerving. “Okay boys, y’all ready?”

“Hey there boss.”

“Yo.”

“Heyo Geoffy!”

“Up and ready, sir.”

There was a moment’s pause. “Michael?” Geoff repeated sternly.

Mechanical grumbling echoed through the ship’s speakers. “But, _Geoff-_ ”

“Arriving at the drop-off point in two minutes, Alabama,” Lindsay chipped in.

Geoff wanted to commit murder. Apparently this was apparent to all, as he heard one of his AIs chuckle darkly – Ryan. “Lindsay, can you please tell _my_ Goddamn AI to get out of _your_ ship and into _my_ head, please?”

Lindsay laughed, nimbly tilting the ship to avoid another piece of abandoned debris. “Michael, get gone.”

More grumbling, followed by an red flash and suddenly Michael’s voice joined the four others echoing through Geoff’s head. “Yeah, yeah.”

“You can flirt with the nice pilot when she saves our asses again,” Ryan said wryly. Not for the first time, Geoff wanted to punch him – something made kind of inconvenient when punching him involves punching your own head.

“We’re not going to need rescuing,” Geoff said. There was a pause, before he added, “Again.”

In a few second’s blessed silence, he readied himself by the back ramp, holding onto the rails, waiting for it to open. “Okay, Gav, I’m gonna need your help in the descent,” Geoff muttered, and the little green figure flickered into vision, grinning and saluting. “Jack, that thing we tried in sector eight? Think you can do that again before we go crashing through the outer walls of this thing?”

The blue figure appeared beside Gavin, looking at Geoff with severe disapproval. “You mean, the thing you ordered me to do on the spur of the moment just before you almost died that we still haven’t properly tested yet? The using-a-shield-for-its-unintended-purpose-of-a-parachute thing? That thing?”

“Yeah, that thing,” Geoff confirmed easily. “Ray, also want you on the sidelines – if they start firing shit at me, I’m gonna need to take it out swiftly.”

“Gotcha,” came the simple reply. It was always so much easier giving orders to Ray. Unless he was bored, or tired, or couldn’t be asked, or thought it was a stupid idea… or when Geoff had drunk a bit too much…

The growling of the engine quietened to a purr as the craft slowed gently. “50 seconds to the drop point,” Lindsay said. “Geoff, it’s still not too late for me to radio in backup.”

Jesus, she was using his actual name. She must be worried. “Hell no,” he muttered, checking that his armour was on firmly, checking for any damage, any cracks he’d missed – the ones he’d already clocked he let pass, wasn’t anything he could do about them now. “This is routine, I could do this shit in my sleep.”

“At the very least, you shouldn’t use three AI at once,” Lindsay persisted, the concern clear in her voice now. “This shit is still experimental, you’ve been warned about the consequences and you’ve been nursing a headache since-”

“The headache has less to do with the assholes they stuck in my head and more do to with the amount of drinks Newie poured down my throat last night,” Geoff cut in. His tone left no space for further discussion on the topic. “I can use three, it’s _fine_.”

“Fine, but I’m telling Griffon what you’ve done when you get back,” Lindsay said. Over Geoff’s head, the red light flicked on, signalling the imminent opening of the bay doors. “Drop time in ten… nine…”

_That’s_ if _I make it back,_ Geoff thought, stepping forwards into the scanned, green gridded space between the small vessel he was perched on the edge of and the huge monstrosity beneath them. On his left, Gavin was watching what was before them intently, adjusting the grid at the slightest movement. On his right, Jack was pulsing, ready to throw up at shield at a moment’s notice. _God knows what she’d tell Griffon if I didn’t…_

 “One.”

Without further thought, Geoff flung himself from the ship, out into the vacuum, and hoped that his AI wouldn’t lead him astray.

*

“AAaaahhhhh ‘scuse me ‘scuse me ‘scuse me-”

“Stop _dodging_ the fuckers you fucking fuck, you’re meant to be helping me _shoot_ them!”

“But there’s _bullets!_ ”

Geoff wanted to scream, if he wasn’t already out of breath and using his last iota of oxygen on running for his god damned life. And, at this stage, he was getting pretty certain that his life literally _was_ god damned. “Just – don’t get out of that fucking weapon, Michael, I need – I need-”

“You need to get to the pick-up point, is what you need,” Jack cut in, ever the voice of reason. “Geoff, you can’t-”

“Gavin, any luck cracking that file we got?” Geoff cut in, finally reaching a corner to an empty corridor. It wouldn’t stay that way for long. He leant against the wall, trying to catch his breath while he still could. “Can you send it ahead to Hunters HQ?”

But the little green figure just shook his head. He was quivering, from head to toe. “I can’t get it off the disk, Geoff!” he said. Poor lad sounded terrified – he didn’t do well in fierce firefights. “It’s encoded-”

“Then I guess I really do have to get off this thing.” There weren’t many options left to him. He was bleeding in so many places that he’d lost count, he was lost, he was undoubtedly surrounded, he’d been unprepared for an assault this fierce and at this point, a nap in a coffin was starting to sound appealing.

_What will she say to Griffon if I don’t make it back…_

He breathed in deeply, and made a decision. “Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do boys. On the count of three, Jack, lower the shields. Love ‘n’ Stuff, you’re going to take over.”

“You want me to stay on the weapons?”

“Yeah, Michael, you stay put. I can’t afford to have to shoot anyone twice.”

The red AI grinned. “On it.”

Jack was staying firmly in his eyeline, refusing to move. “Geoff, without a shield-”

“Without a map I won’t know where I’m going, and without adrenaline, I’m not getting off this wall,” Geoff cut in. “Without power-assist, none of these fuckers are gonna get off my tail. I can’t afford a shield as well. You got that?”

There was no ignoring the reluctance with which Jack faded into the background. But the blue light stayed, his false consciousness refusing to abandon him completely.

“Ready?”

“Ready boss.”

“On three…”

The world flashed green, then orange, and Geoff felt the energy shoot through him like lightning. It wouldn’t last long. But that was okay, because Gavin was leading him where he needed to go. He just needed to get there.

Two enemies were round the next corner, three more after the next. Geoff took them all down in one shot, with Michael’s assistance and gleeful cries of “Boosh!” each time the gun fired.

_What will she say if…_

If he stumbled as he ran, none of the AIs dishonoured him by mentioning it.

“Not far Geoff – not far-”

“Don’t let me die boys,” Geoff muttered.

The electric touch of Ryan’s hand pressed back against neck, another burst of lightning, weaker than the previous. “Nah, we’ve got you. Been through worse situations than this.”

Geoff laughed breathlessly, struggling to raise the gun to shoot down the soldiers that appeared before him. One of them got him in the shoulder before he managed to fire back. “Yeah… yeah…”

To his left, something flashed green. “Geoff! Familiar bodies located – we’ve got friends, Geoff! We’ve got backup!”

_Friends? What friends._

But he followed Gavin’s directions to land squarely at the feet of two men, in armour not all that different from his own. A hand grabbed his arm and hoisted him to his feet. “Always so lazy on the job, Alabama?”

This was the point where Geoff felt certain he was hallucinating. “Newie,” he chortled, leaning heavily on the dark blue armour. “When – who brought you back to active duty?”

“You did, you moron,” Burnie said. “When you refused authorised backup. You are so fucking stupid.”

Geoff nodded, smiling. Damn right, and he knew it. “There’s… lot of guys coming…”

“Don’t worry, Adam’s got them covered,” Burnie replied, pulling Geoff back from the open doorway.

True enough, the other agent, decked out in grey armour with an intimidating full-face yellow screen, was charging forwards towards the oncoming army. A small, dark blue figure was sat on his shoulder, apparently eating an apple.

“Joel! Will you fucking do shit, please?”

“Like what?”

“Like enable the fucking agility enhancements, you fuck!”

“No, that’s your job, you do that.”

“ _No_ , that’s _your_ job!”

“I do the navigating, you do agility, that’s what you have to-”

“ _You fucking do both!”_

Slightly concerned, Geoff lifted his head to look back at Burnie. “He’s got it,” he reassured him. “That’s just – that’s how they work.”

There were more important things. “I got the file. I got it, but can’t download, can’t crack-”

“Have one of your guys give it to Gus, he’ll get it sorted,” Burnie said. Without needing instructing, Gavin went to transfer the data over to the grey figure reluctantly emerging from his cubby-hole in Burnie’s suit.

As the transfer was taking place, something behind them blew up, and there was a roar of “God _damn_ it, Joel!”

Instinct made Geoff turn around. Instinct made him stand protectively in front of Burnie. But it was an instinct not his that threw up the blue shield and, with a fourth AI active, he was finally pushed beyond his physical capabilities.

The world went black.


	2. Who needs sleep, we got shit to do

He’d be a massive liar if he said this was the first time he’d woken up in medical. It’d also be lying to say that it was a rare occurrence. It _was_ true, however, to say this was the first time he was surprised to wake up at all.

“If you damage my suit like that again, I’m not giving you another one.”

Geoff was smiling even before he opened his eyes. “ _Your_ suit?” he asked, voice cracking slightly from an unknown period of disuse. “Coulda sworn it was _my_ suit.”

“Yeah? Well I made it, I fix it, and out of the _two_ of us, I’m the only one who lovingly cares for it. You just… take it out to get shot and battered.”

With effort, Geoff forced his eyes open. The technical, squeaky-clean white of the walls hurt after not-quite-restful darkness, but it was worth it. Griffon was, as he knew she would be, sat by his left. She had her feet up on his hospital bed, and her attention seemed to be focused on a gauntlet she was precisely attacking with a screwdriver. “Sorry,” he said. It was pretty damn obvious that, badass though he was, this apology was for more than the suit. Real men could be sentimental and soppy when they wanted to be.

“Yeah, well I’m not joking,” Griffon said, not looking up from the gauntlet. “If this comes back with this many singes and bullet-holes again, I’m not giving you a new one. You’ll just have to be benched. Weaponless. Stuck behind a desk, like Newie.”

“Burnie and Gus _chose_ to be behind a desk, they work better there,” Geoff whined. “You can’t stick me behind a desk!”

Finally, Griffon looked up at him, smiling. She’d replaced her nose piercing with a more sombre stud, and Geoff felt like he could never apologise enough for what she went through – what he constantly put her through. “Yeah, I know I couldn’t,” she admitted, reaching out to pat his hand lightly. The wedding ring didn’t shine, like something expensive and cliché – it was only a band of the tough, dark-toned metal used in the armour she crafted. But it was better to see the dull metal than anything gold.

Reassured that he was good, that he was safe, Geoff let himself settle back, listening to the comforting sounds of his wife tinkering with a part of his armour. On instinct, he reached out to the corner of his mind that usually flickered with colour, only to find it as mute and bland as the rest of his mind.

For the first time since waking up, he started to panic. “Gav?” he asked, trying to push himself upright, ignoring the strain on his arms. “Jack? Ryan, c’mon guys, where-”

“Hey, hey, sh,” Griffon said, putting the gauntlet down and getting to her feet, hands going to his shoulders, trying to keep him in the bed. “Geoff, you gotta rest-”

“They’re not answering – Griffon, what did they do to them-”

“Geoff-”

“We had to shut them down for a little while.”

Fear turned to rage. Geoff wrenched his head towards the doorway, seeing Matt standing there in his usual pristine, neat suit. “Matt, what did you _do-”_

Matt’s sigh was audible from the other side of the room. “It was always experimental, implanting more than two AI,” Matt reminded him, and Geoff really wanted to scream that he didn’t give a shit. “And previous experience has shown that using any more than three at once is beyond what the human brain is capable of. At the time New York and Philadelphia caught up with you, you started to use four-”

Geoff remembered now. There’d been an explosion, Adam and his AI taking ‘attack is the best defence’ too far, and Geoff had stepped in front of Burnie to defend him. And even though Geoff was already using Ryan, Michael and Gavin, Jack had thrown up a shield to protect him. Something Geoff hadn’t asked him to do.

He hadn’t blacked out from damage, he’d blacked out from the mental strain.

“The only option we had, Geoff, was to temporarily put the AI to sleep and hope that the lessened taxation on your mind would let you recover, but don’t worry, they’ll wake up in no time at all,” Matt was still insisting. Geoff still didn’t believe him.

“That’s bullshit, they were trying to _protect_ me!” Geoff yelled. His voice cracked again – gods, when was the last time he got decent _sleep_ …

Sleep could come later. He’d had enough of this. “Screw this, I’m out,” he said simple, swinging his legs out of the bed. “If you need me, I’ll be somewhere on this goddamn ship, as my lovely wife is still fixing my suit that _my AI_ were quick-thinking enough to save – me along with it.” Sheer force of will stopped him from stumbling as he surged to his feet. He pressed a quick kiss to the top of Griffon’s head. “See you later.” She merely grunted a response, picking the gauntlet back up and getting back to work.

“Alabama-”

“See you around, Matt,” Geoff said, cutting him off and heading out to the door.

“You can’t – Geoff – _Geoff!_ Are you really going to walk around the base in a hospital robe?”

He kicked the door to the med bay open, just for the hell of it. “That’s exactly what I’m gonna do,” he muttered and, on impulse, turned right.

“Geoff, your ass is hanging out. Geoff!”

*

His feet led him to the locker rooms by the training rooms. Kind of made sense, really. Always safer to imagine punching your boss and friend in the face than to _actually_ punch them. And a few minutes of alone-time with a punching bag was probably just what the doctor ordered.

Okay, probably not, but hey. How much worse could throwing a few punches make a man with about four bullet-holes in him.

He located the locker with his allocated name on it, and found amidst the mess of stuff in there the tape he used in lieu of boxing gloves. He really couldn’t be asked with the fuss of putting on his exercise gear, mainly because he currently felt like he’d pull something if he tried to do something that required that much flexibility.

Besides, the silence was getting to him. The longer that his sight remained void of the luminescent colours of his virtual team-mates, the worse he felt. The sound of the shit being beaten out of a punch bag would make it all seem slightly better.

“Your ass is showing.”

Geoff paused in his merciless assault of the punching bag to shrug. “Nothing no one’s seen before.”

Burnie chuckled. “True that. Most people here could probably draw you naked from memory.”

“No reason to be ashamed. If you got it and all that.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say _you’ve_ got it.”

Geoff threw a final punched and left the bag to swing. “Ha, ha,” he said dryly. “Fancy a quick spar?” he asked, turning to look at the guy. The answer he was going to get was automatically obvious. Burnie had already changed out of his blue field armour into the casual suit he wore in the office. The only sign that he was anything more than a bulky pen-pusher was the high-tech cuff on his wrist and metal patch on his neck, that allowed his AI – Lambda, or ‘Gus’ to his friends – to operate. More Burnie Burns that Agent New York.

“That’ll be a no,” Burnie said unapologetically. “I’ve had enough action to get me by for a while, thanks. Why not ask Blaine, he’s always up for a fight.”

Geoff scoffed. “Blaine?” he echoed. “That kid’s not even got his AI yet.”

“Well neither do you, at the moment.”

And Geoff had almost managed to forget it. “You heard, then?” he asked. If his voice came across as slightly bitter, that’s because he _was_. “Who told you? Matt, or Griffon?”

“No one needed to tell me, I was there,” Burnie said. “I was the one holding your fat limbs down as they tried to prize the armour off you to shut the AI down.”

Geoff didn’t remember that. He’d assumed, as was protocol, that for such an invasive mental procedure, the doctors would’ve waited until he was under. Any control of the AI by someone other than the host could cause severe mental trauma. “I was _conscious_ for that?” he asked, aghast. It was bad enough they felt the need to punish his AI without his permission anyway, but to do so while he was _conscious?_

But Burnie shook his head, vigorously. “Oh gods, no. No you were _well_ out of it, so much so that the medics were starting to fret about, well, _if_ you’d independently wake up rather than _when_. No, you were fully under.”

That made even less sense. “Then – what? Then why did you have to hold me down?”

Burnie shrugged. “Beats me, man. But you were fighting us, all the same. Stopped once we got you out of it and the AI off. Couldn’t tell if-”

He cut off, suddenly shifting his weight and looking down nervously. Curious – no, _anxious_ , Geoff stepped forwards, determined to have Burnie’s focus back on him. “Couldn’t tell _what_ , Burnie?”

There were many times and many reasons for calling Burnie and asshole, but there was never a time when he wouldn’t be a good friend. “Hell, man, most of us assumed that the damaged armour was just sparking and jerking with you inside it,” Burnie said, running a hand over his face. “But some – a doctor or two, I don’t know, perhaps it was just an assumption we all made-”

“For god’s sake, Burns, stop fucking about and just say-”

“Look, it’s stupid, it doesn’t even make sense-”

“ _Burnie.”_

With a sigh, Burnie gave in. “They think,” he said, as if saying it slowly might put off ever having to actually say it, “that there might be the chance that your armour – or maybe your body, I don’t know – that it was being moved independently by the AI.”

Geoff honestly couldn’t think of how to respond to that. Especially couldn’t think of a response that wouldn’t lose him a friend. He just gaped, and stared at the floor. Eventually, he just said, “You’re right, that doesn’t make any fucking sense. It was probably just electrical spasms, or what the fuck it was you said before-”

He was cut off by the overhead speakers in the gym beeping. “Uh, Agent Alabama?” a hesitant voice asked. “If you could report to the Overseer’s office as soon as possible, it’d be much appreciated. Councillor Hullum would like a word.”

“Yeah, okay, thanks Chris,” Geoff replied, unwinding the tape around his fists and not looking back to Burnie.

Said friend was chuckling awkwardly. “What did you do to get called to the Principal’s office?” he asked.

Geoff just shrugged. “Eh, might’ve implied he was an asshole, and not too subtly… see you around, Burnie.”

He was going to walk off without looking back, but Burnie grabbed his arm before he could get away. Tugging him back around, Burnie stared him, forehead creased with worry-lines. “You think it’s possible, don’t you?” he demanded. “I saw your expression – you think _they_ did it.”

Geoff tugged his arm free. “See you around,” he repeated, before turning his back on Burnie and leaving the gym.

*

Rather than wait for Chris to check if Matt was ready for him, Geoff ignored the kid’s stuttering and strode straight in. “You wanted to see me, Councillor Hullum?” he said blandly, standing to attention.

Matt looked up from his desk. He had his glasses slowly slipping down his nose, and a desk completely covered in various documents. At the sound of Geoff’s voice, he sighed. “Don’t tell me you hate me for summoning you thing,” he said, tidying up the papers and carefully hiding them all in a folder. “You stormed off, how else was I meant to get you to actually talk with me?”

“Oh, I don’t know sir,” Geoff drawled coldly. “Perhaps by coming and finding me in person? Just a suggestion.”

The look Matt gave him was equal parts disappointment and amusement. “Sit down, Geoff. We’re getting too old to bicker.”

“Not too old to be fucking annoyed though,” Geoff grumbled, but willingly collapsed into the chair. “Are you gonna yell at me for insubordination?”

“Nah, I gave that up years ago,” Matt said, dismissing Geoff’s concerns with a wave of his hand. “No, I’ve – there’s just a few follow-up questions I’d like to ask you, before I can with clear conscious send you back into the field. It has now been a full year since you had the AI implanted, after all, it makes sense to check everything’s still working fine.”

Geoff’s last ‘check-up’ had been over six months ago. The same point where everyone gets their final all-clear. And sure, he was slightly unusual, the only one with more than two AI in his system, but still.

_They think that that there might be the chance that your armour – or maybe your body, I don’t know – that it was being moved independently by the AI…_

Bullshit. All of it, had to be.

“Now, first off,” Matt said, looking towards the screen of his computer. “This trend of giving AI more familiar, more personable names – that started with you, right?”

Geoff nodded.

“What prompted that, if I may ask?”

Geoff shrugged. “If I’m gonna have teammates in my head permanently, I’m not going to call them symbols. I’ll call them by a name, not some Greek letter.”

Apparently the answer was satisfactory. Matt wrote something down – for some reason, he still preferred hard copies to electronic – and then followed that up with, “So, did you pick the names then, or did you let the AI choose them? For example, did-” he checked his notes again, “did Pi _choose_ the name Jack, or was that you? Because though some, such as Gamma to Gavin make sense, the others seem a bit more… random.”

Geoff didn’t mean to hesitate – but he did. And there was no way Matt didn’t notice. Before his boss could call him out on it, Geoff did what he always did. He blagged his way through it. “Well, y’know, it’s like pets,” he said, talking over any suspicions that Matt might want to air, “You gotta name them, can’t call them ‘dog’ or ‘cat’ forever, and you just kinda suggest names and you tell yourself that the thing likes one name over the other and yeah. It gets a name.”

It was a lie. It was a complete lie. But apparently, for the meantime, it was a lie that was passing unquestioned.

“Right,” Matt said, scribbling something else down. He opened his mouth, presumably to ask another question – then stopped. His mouth hovered open, as if he was struggling to form the word. Like he was choking. After a few seconds – just long enough for Geoff to start to get concerned – Matt closed his mouth, and wearily took off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I swear, none of us get enough sleep anymore,” he muttered. Geoff wasn’t sure if he was meant to answer that. “We’re not designed to work like this, Geoff…. Do you trust me?”

Stunned by the swift change of topic, Geoff couldn’t answer, and Matt continued before Geoff could figure out what his answer _would_ be. “You’ve got to understand, Geoff, I make shitty decisions, but I do it to make sure all of you are safe. Remember that, when I do shit like putting your AI to sleep without your permission. And, Geoff?”

An orange glow started to cloud the corner of Geoff’s vision, and he felt half of the world lift from his shoulders. “Yeah?” he said, breathing properly since he woke up.

“Don’t… don’t get _attached_ to them, alright?”

And just like that, the air was knocked out of him again. What the fuck did _that_ mean?

Almost as quickly as Matt had switched to the concerned friend, he was back to being the boss again. If Geoff had had more sleep recently, perhaps he could have queried it, got answers, but as it was, he was too confused about it all to do anything. 

“How long do you think it could be until we sent you out into the field again?” Matt asked, slipping his glasses back into place and looking at Geoff as if he were any other soldier under his command.

That was fine. This kind of conversation Geoff knew how to handle. “Why, you got a mission for me sir?”

“The intel you collected for us last time has been accessed, but unfortunately it doesn’t contain all we need. Fortunately, however, it does provide us with another location that _might_. Think you’re up for it?”

He really didn’t need to ask. Even if Geoff _wasn’t_ battle-ready, he’d still give the same response. “Abso-fucking-lutely, sir.”

Matt nodded. “How’s the AI doing?”

Just as he asked, another voice spoke up. “Are you fucking _kidding me?_ Are you FUCKING WITH ME? THOSE PIECES OF SHIT!”

Geoff smiled. “They’re doing just fine sir.”

“Good. Tell them you’ll be wheels up in thirty. Tuggey and the other Ramsey are getting your ride set as we speak.”

*

Twenty minutes later, Geoff was finally out of the hospital gown and back in his armour.

“This is fucking stupid.”

“It’s our _job_ , Michael!” Gavin protested, affecting a horror that Geoff was pretty certain the AI didn’t _actually_ feel.

“Yeah? Well our _job’s_ fucking stupid. Those bastards _knocked us out_ , and now they want us doing their fucking dirty work? Fucking fuck that.”

“Now now, boys,” Ryan cut in dryly, “Let’s save the anger for the people that’ll be shooting at us again, yeah?”

A blue flicker, and Jack appeared before Geoff. The calmer AI had never liked addressing him as a ‘disembodied voice’, as Ryan called it. Or ‘too spookies’, to use Ray’s term. “Michael’s right though,” he said, staring at Geoff with concern. “They shouldn’t be sending you out this soon after you were-”

“Perhaps if four of my AI don’t activate at once this time round, I might not be thrown in the medical bay again,” Geoff cut in. Jack had the sense to look abashed, but Geoff knew the AI wasn’t sorry. Truthfully, Geoff didn’t want him to be. The AI had saved his life, like they always did.

“Yo, Alabama!”

Lindsay was waving at him from where she was standing on the wing of her craft. By her feet, head buried in an engine, was his wife. “Hey there girlies,” he replied, waving the hand that wasn’t holding his helmet. “We ready for another roaring round of let’s-not-get-Geoff-killed?”

“Can’t wait,” Lindsay assured him. “Griffon, my bird all patched up?”

There was a final clunk, and Griffon rose to her feet, wrench in hand and tattoos almost completely hidden under grime, oil and paint. “Up and running like she’s just come off the line,” Griffon said, with more than a touch of pride.

“Sweet,” said Lindsay, grinning. She swung herself into the cockpit without another word. Moments later, the engine started to buzz as she tested the systems, getting the old bird ready to fly.

Geoff didn’t head into his ride just yet. Griffon was smiling at him as she smudged the oil and paint together over her arms as she tried to rub it down with a rag. “You off again?” she asked.

He nodded. “Just – allay an old boy’s suspicions, would you?” She waved at him to continue. “The armour – this suit – if there was, say, an electrical boost or some such, could it cause the armour to spasm?”

Griffon was long used to his weird questions. “Not really. The electrical systems don’t have that much control over the motions of the suit, only enough to stop the weight from preventing you from moving it with any difficulty. Why?”

Geoff shrugged. “Just curious. One of the dumb things Gavin said, you know what he’s like.” There was a momentary green flicker, but the usually chatty AI stayed silent. “Love you,” he said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

She leaned into the kiss. “Yeah, I love you too,” she said, before whacking him with the rag. “Now, go. Don’t keep Lindsay waiting. I’ll see you soon.”

Head running the same questions over and over, Geoff jogged passed his wife and into the familiar hold of Lindsay’s bird, only looking back to her once.

The instant he was inside, he heard Lindsay flick a switch and the back of the craft started to close up. “You ready for another go at this then, Alabama?” Lindsay called back to him. “How about we actually keep backup on speed-dial this time?”

 _It wasn’t the electrical systems. It wasn’t the suit malfunctioning that made Burnie have to hold me down_.

“Nah,” Geoff called back, clicking his helmet into place, and smiling as his visor filled with the familiar cacophony of colour. “I think we got this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know where this is going now! Wahey! And yeah, I'm trying a new thing of writing chapters that are actually SMALL. Who new? 
> 
> If you DON'T ALREADY KNOW - which would surprise the hell out of me - all adapted from raysnarvaezjr's AI AU. The url's below, 'cause I'm not tech-savvy enough to imbed a link, and I cba to google how. 
> 
> http://raysnarvaezjr.tumblr.com/tagged/ah-ai-au


	3. Where's that line we do not cross, again?

This time, the target was on a planet, not some ship floating aimlessly about space. Which meant that, rather than having all knowledge of the place he was going to risk his life in coming from a powerpoint presentation by the archivists before being thrown out of a moving aircraft at speed in the middle of black, endless space, he actually got to step out onto solid ground and look at it in person.

Now, call Geoff old-fashioned, but he _much_ preferred being able to scout out the place with his own two eyes before having to dive face-first into it. Not that he didn’t trust the guys back at Ops, they were good dudes, he’d worked with them for too fucking long now and they hadn’t steered him wrong yet. Well, _too_ wrong. He really didn’t mind working on the team’s intel. But he felt much safer when the only person he had to rely on was himself. Himself, in this instance, referring to him and five other AI guys.

Speaking of.

“Let’s just stay in the forest!” Jack suggested. “Forest safe, forest good…”

“Jack makes a very fine point,” Michael said, his little red form currently peering around a tree to look at the base. “Forest does seem pretty safe, in comparison to the concrete, enemy infested, death trap of a – a -”

“No way in, no way out,” Ray chanted demurely and remarkably pessimistically. His manifestation was napping on a rock.

Geoff looked down from his binoculars to glare at him. “Are you going to be at all helpful?” he asked, but of course, Ray just shrugged.

With a flicker of orange Ryan appeared, only to – even _more_ unhelpfully – lean casually against the tree Michael was hiding behind and provide his own two cents about the situation. “Sure, yeah, let’s stay in the forest,” he said amicably. “I mean, I _think_ we’re camouflaged enough that nothing unfriendly will find us, and that dead deer over there makes me _pretty_ certain that whatever carnivorous creatures ate it is probably full for the day… but then, I guess it depends on the size of its stomach…”

“Shut up, Ryan!” Michael yelled.

Geoff sighed. Only a few hours of having his boys back online, and he was already craving the silence again. “Okay, here’s the plan boys,” he said, folding the binoculars and slipping back into their holster. Holster for binoculars… Geoff remembered the days where you had to shove them into your backpack, now there’s even holsters for _binoculars_. “Gav, you there?”

“Yo,” Gavin replied not bothering to manifest to respond. Or just too lazy.

“Gonna need you to map it out for me, so there’s no nasty surprises. Ray, you on shooting, and Jack, want you on standby in case there _are_ nasty surprises. Let’s see if I can make it a whole twenty-four hours before landing back in medical, yeah?”

“Aye aye Captain,” Jack chorused, the blue shield flickering up momentarily as he tested it out.

“X-Ray and Vav!” Ray chorused, pushing himself up from the rock and making even holographic floating look taxing as he rose to position himself by Geoff’s firearm.

“You need team Crazy Mad to do anything, boss?” Ryan asked.

Geoff shook his head. “Not right now. Keep your eyes open, though. You probably won’t get much warning if I need your help.”

I.E: if this goes as tits-up as last time, I’m counting on you two to get me out of this mess. 

Thankfully there was only minimal protesting when Geoff finally broke cover, heading out from the safety of the trees and into the open space between the forest and the base. Intel held strong – this area did seem to be a blind spot in the surveillance, and there was only one guard holding the back door. Supposedly, this was a low-security facility, which, aside from making Geoff wonder why the fuck they were holding something here that was worth Oversight sending in an operative, made him _immensely_ grateful.

The perfectly targeted bullet pierced the helmet of the guard without a sound, aside from Ray’s whispered accompaniment of “Head shot!” The guy collapsed straight back into Geoff’s waiting arms and he dragged him back into the surveillance blind spot, considerately relieving him of his security pass.

“Gav?”

“Uh, left passage clear. After that it’s a right and a left, few people milling about.”

“Then let’s make this quick, simple, and precise.”

Michael snorted. “Yeah, like _that’ll_ happen with _Gavin_ in power.”

The liberated security pass got him in without a hitch. There were cameras monitoring the hallway, obviously, but Geoff planned to be in and out of there before anyone noticed that some dude’s armour didn’t _quite_ match their own. The trick was, he’d found, was that if you swaggered about like you belonged somewhere, then people just kind of accepted it.

With Gavin’s muttered instructions and Ray carefully scouting out each corridor for potential targets, locking onto them before they could even say ‘hi’, they managed to navigate the base swiftly, despite Michael’s teasing misgivings about Gavin’s abilities. Geoff could feel Michael and Ryan getting restless in the lack of combat. Jack, however, was staying contently quiet in the back of Geoff’s mind, the relief he was exuding helping Geoff stay calm.

“You want to take a left here, Geoff, then the first room to your right will be a tech room, you can access the mainframe and database from there.”

Another empty corridor, and a door marked with a ‘restricted access’ sign. It had the most high-tech lock on it that Geoff had seen yet – and yet, when Geoff leant against it to try and hack his way in (or blast, if the subtle approach seemed like it’d take a few seconds too long) the door swung open.

For a moment he froze, instincts telling him that anything this easy must be a trap. But no alarms, no sudden shooting, no really really angry men trying to kill him in what, he thought, was usually a huge overreaction. Instead, just a guy in the room in tech’s clothing, spinning around on his chair and asking, “Oh, d’you need to use this room?”

Geoff remain stationary, still waiting for the other shoe to drop – presumably a ten ton boot, right on his head. “Uh,” he said eventually. “Uh, yeah, y’know, top secret stuff, for your eyes only shit-”

“Say no more,” the guy said, rising from his seat. “I know how it is. Any idea how long you’ll be? I’ve only got a few more episodes until I’ve finished the series.”

As the guy edged past, Geoff pressed himself against the doorframe nervously. “Uh. Only about ten minutes?”

“Aw, sweet, thanks bro.”

And the door swung shut behind him.

Momentary stunned silence, before Ray chimed in. “Well. That was weird.”

Geoff didn’t even want to think about it. It was always unsettling, having casual conversations with people who were on the other side. Knowing that they also stole into supposedly secured areas to stream their favourite TV shows, even though they fought for entirely different moralities to prevail, didn’t help him sleep well at night. “Let’s just get this shit done. Ryan, you still got the details of which files it was I needed to download?”

“Are you _doubting_ me, Geoff? You want files Artificial Intelligence Allowance Permission Form O2BC, Freelance 022, Alpha-”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it, you can shut up now.” Geoff swung into the chair, unable to resist spinning it around once before settling in at the keyboard. “Okay, so – how do I hack again?”

There was a weary sigh, and Ryan started talking, with occasional inputs from Ray, and Jack telling him that he should know this shit by now. But hey. This was what he had AI for, right?

It didn’t take long to get access to the system, the cyber-security about as tough as the rest of the security in the base was. The place seemed all but abandoned, old and outdated, people stationed here more as a formality than actually doing anything…

“What did Matt say this place was again?” Geoff asked, as his fingers did what Ryan instructed.

“Something like a research site or some bullocks,” Gavin chipped in.

“I haven’t seen much research, or guys in lab coats with clipboards, how about you guys?” Geoff muttered. There was a silent consensus from the boys. No labs, neither. People with weak weaponry wandering between rooms, casual-as-you-like…

As Geoff finally got access to the files he wanted, a familiar logo appeared on the huge screen before him. A logo displaying the huge, obnoxious letters, UNSC.

Gavin spoke first. “We’re not stealing from our own guys, are we?”

“You can’t steal from your own guys, Gav, ‘cause they’re _our guys,_ ” Michael said, sounding annoyed. “If they’re _our guys_ , then we don’t _have_ to steal, we can just _ask_.”

Ray continued Michael’s train of thought, speaking slowly, still thinking it through. “So, if we’re _not_ asking… if we’re _stealing_ …”

Only Ryan was brave enough to put the conclusion into words. “…Does that make us the bad guys?”

Geoff could tell that everyone was as scared about it as he was by how, instantly, without a second’s pause to think about it, there was an uproar of protests as the boys tried to reaffirm that no, not possible, so fucking stupid, preposterous. They couldn’t be the bad guys. They did what was _right_. Right?

“Let’s just do the job, boys,” Geoff said, for now dismissing the nagging telling him something was wrong and just focusing on downloading all the necessary files. “Get in, get out, give the info to Matt, and _then_ we can grill him and Burnie about it all later.”

“But-”

“ _If_ we don’t get straight answers,” Geoff cut in, before Ryan could once again voice what they all feared, “then – and only then – shall we start doing a bit of not-quite-lawful investigating. Not before. Okay?”

The chorus of affirmations didn’t reassure him.

“For fuck’s sake, someone check with Tugs, see if our ride out of here is in position,” he muttered, exiting the database and heading out of the room, Gavin’s scanned maps already there, waiting to get him to safety.

“She’s good to go,” Michael said.

“Great. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner I can put Matt on the fucking rack.”

*

An armed guard was waiting for them when they got back. Lindsay, without saying a word, turned in her seat to look at Geoff. He just nodded. She commenced descent into the hanger.

His need to know what was going on was stronger than ever. If there was an armed guard, at least it meant that he was finally going to find out.

“You want me to tag them, boss?” Ray asked, the usual quiet, confident voice in his head.

Geoff shook his head, keeping his breathing steady. “Stand down, kid. There’s no problem here.”

The moment he stepped out of the craft, two of the guards stepped forwards, as if to take him by force. “You’re needed in the Councillor’s office,” one, the officer, said. “We’re here to escort you.”

“Yeah, but shockingly, I know the way myself, thanks,” Geoff said, not without sarcasm. Yet when he headed off, the soldiers stayed in a formation around him. It didn’t escape his attention that Lindsay wasn’t leaving her bird. Under pretence of checking something in the cockpit, she was staying where she found it safe.

_Where’s Griffon?_

“What’s the plan, Geoff?” Gavin asked, not manifesting. His boys were hiding.  

“No plan,” Geoff muttered, hoping to talk quiet enough that the soldiers around him wouldn’t hear. “Stay calm boys. We don’t know that we’re in any immediate danger.”

“Okay, but just say the word,” Jack said. Geoff could feel his skin permanently tingling, the static feeling that always engulfed him just before Jack threw up the shield.

“Yeah, we’re ready whenever you are,” Michael chimed in. Ryan and Ray quietly added their assurances, too.

Finally reaching Matt’s office, the soldiers drew to a stop. Geoff had planned to burst into Matt’s office, but the idiot guards weren’t really giving him much of a choice. The office turned back to face him, the mechanical voice coming through the helmet ordering him – _ordering_ him, the sheer gal – to wait outside.  

Geoff gaped at him. “You’re fucking with me? It’s _Matt_. I’ve known him for _dick_ years!”

But the officer wouldn’t budge. “Councillor Hullum is no longer in charge here,” he said, his voice completely monotone.

Inside his helmet, Geoff’s mouth fell open.

More out of shock than respect, he waited until the officer checked that whoever was in the office was ready for them. Chris missing from his usual desk outside the office. When he was told he could finally enter, he didn’t have to be told twice. In fact, he thought he should be given brownie points for not kicking the door down.

He’d been warned, but it still made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end to see someone other than Matt sat behind the desk. In his place was a man in a plain suit, plain tie, with the badge of the UNSC pinned carefully to his lapel. He smiled up at Geoff, welcoming. “Ah, you are Agent Alabama, yes?”

Geoff didn’t care for the man in a neat suit. “Where’s Matt?” he demanded, Michael silently cheering him on in his head, Ryan’s menacing energy starting to send electricity through his veins.

The man just smiled. “I am the First Field Officer for the chairman of the UNSC Oversight committee. I believe you are aware of that aspect of the UNSC?”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Project Achievement works for it, _I_ work for it,” Geoff replied testily. “Where the _fuck_ is Councillor Matt Hullum?”

The man behind the desk just shrugged. “I’m afraid I can’t answer that. I was hoping _you_ would be able to answer that. The moment we sent our request to dock on the _Huntress_ , he, along with several other employees here – including Agent New York, another friend of yours I believe – seemed to abandon ship without leaving any explanation as to why. Now, I had hoped to talk with him, but, as I can’t do that, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?”

Geoff didn’t answer immediately. He was still trying to piece together what he’d been told. Eventually, it was Gavin’s curiosity and Ryan’s need for more information that prompted him to say, “You can _ask_.”

The man smiled again. “Excellent. Now, first – can you tell me, being as detailed as possibly, what kind of intel you have been recovering for Mr Hullum on your last few missions? The action he’s had you taking has made some of us _quite_ concerned.”

The newly downloaded file in the back of Geoff’s databanks flashed absently on his helmet’s display, reminding him that it was still there.

_If Matt’s got us stealing from who we thought were our guys… does that make us the bad guys?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, short again, more for pushing the plot along than anything else. Might have explained a bit more, however, probably just left more questions than it answered... answers coming soon! Interested to hear your ideas though...??

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave any comments, etc. And if you liked, keep an eye out for future instalments!


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